India likely to ban single-use plastic after a month: Report

New Delhi | India is likely to ban single-use plastic as part of an ongoing clean India mission, which will start from October, in a nationwide campaign.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is leading efforts to scrap such plastics by 2022, is set to launch the campaign with a ban on as many as six items starting October 2 – the birth anniversary of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, two officials told Reuters news agency.

Sharing the details with the Union Cabinet in the council of ministers’ meeting, Secretary Drinking Water and Sanitation Parameswaran Iyer informed that the campaign will be held in three phases.

In the first phase, a nationwide awareness campaign will be held across the country, in the second phase various government agencies will collect single-use plastic items, and in the last phase accumulated items will be recycled.

These include plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets, said the officials, who asked not to be identified, in line with government policy.

In the Independence Day speech at August 15, Prime Minister Modi had urged citizens to avoid using single-use plastic.

The ban on the first six items of single-use plastics will clip five to 10 percent from India’s annual consumption, now totalling about 14 million tonnes of plastic, reported Reuters.

Penalties for violating the ban will probably take effect after an initial six-month period to allow people time to adopt alternatives.

Organisations like the European Union and countries like Shanghai are also considering limiting the use of single-use plastic.

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